DrugRehab.com provides information regarding illicit and prescription drug
addiction, the various populations at risk for the disease, current statistics and trends, and
psychological disorders that often accompany addiction. You will also find information on spotting
the signs and symptoms of substance use and hotlines for immediate assistance.

Treatment for addiction takes many forms and depends on the needs of the individual.
In accordance with the American Society of Addiction Medicine, we offer information on
outcome-oriented treatment that adheres to an established continuum of care. In this section, you
will find information and resources related to evidence-based treatment models, counseling and
therapy and payment and insurance options.

Treatment for addiction takes many forms and depends on the needs of the
individual. In accordance with the American Society of Addiction Medicine, we offer
information on outcome-oriented treatment that adheres to an established continuum of
care. In this section, you will find information and resources related to evidence-based
treatment models, counseling and therapy and payment and insurance options.

The recovery process doesn't end after 90 days of treatment. The transition back to
life outside of rehab is fraught with the potential for relapse. Aftercare resources such as
12-step groups, sober living homes and support for family and friends promote a life rich with
rewarding relationships and meaning.

Our community offers unique perspectives on lifelong recovery and substance use
prevention, empowering others through stories of strength and courage. From people in active
recovery to advocates who have lost loved ones to the devastating disease of addiction, our
community understands the struggle and provides guidance born of personal experience.

Co-Occurring Disorders

A person with a co-occurring disorder has been diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder and another mental health disorder. Co-occurring disorders, sometimes called dual disorders, are best treated through integrated treatment that addresses both issues at the same time.

The brain is a complicated and delicate organ. It’s not surprising that alcohol and other drugs can cause symptoms of mental illness. The substances work by changing the way the brain operates. People who use drugs feel buzzed or high because the substances affect chemicals in the brain and the way brain cells communicate with one another.

In response to those changes, the brain adapts to the presence of alcohol and other drugs, increasing the chances that a person will develop a substance use disorder. Substance use disorders are types of mental health disorders that are more commonly called addiction.

It’s possible to have more than one mental health disorder. Substance use disorders often co-occur alongside other mental illnesses. More than half of people with substance use disorders also have a mental illness. Sometimes the mental illness comes first. In other people, substance abuse occurs first. In both situations, each disorder amplifies the symptoms of the other.

“A large number of people with substance use disorders also have some psychiatric disorders which may or may not be major,” Dr. Timothy Huckaby, medical director of Orlando Recovery Center, told DrugRehab.com. “A lot of people have underlying depression or underlying anxiety.”

Other common co-occurring disorders include personality disorders, behavior disorders and psychotic disorders. With comprehensive treatment, individuals can recover from addiction and most co-occurring mental health disorders. But failing to address co-occurring disorders during addiction treatment increases the chances of relapse.

Allison Walsh of Advanced Recovery Systems explains why failing to treat co-occurring disorders during addiction treatment can lead to relapse after treatment.

What Are Mental Health Disorders?

The phrases “mental illness,” “mental health disorder” and “mental health issue” are often used synonymously. In its diagnostics manual, the American Psychiatric Association uses the term mental disorder to define mental illnesses, but the organization also recommends using the term mental health challenge.

The American Psychiatric Association defines a mental disorder as: “a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological or developmental processes underlying mental functioning.”

Some mental disorders are more common than others. Conditions such as anxiety and depressive disorders, for example, occur more frequently than schizophrenia and psychosis. Each type of mental disorder can range in severity from mild to severe.

Developmental Disorders

Mental disorders are different from developmental disabilities. Developmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and learning disabilities, impair social interaction, mobility, language and self-sufficiency.

Substance use disorders and other mental health disorders can co-occur alongside developmental disorders. But the term co-occurring disorder most commonly refers to substance use disorders and mental disorders.

Dual Diagnosis & Comorbidity

Dual diagnosis is an outdated term for co-occurring disorders. Both of these terms are sometimes confused with comorbid disorders.

Comorbidity is a broad term used to denote the existence of multiple physical or mental diseases or disorders. Co-occurring disorders and dual diagnosis are specific to substance use disorders and other mental health conditions.

Mental Disorders that Co-Occur with Substance Abuse

Any mental health disorder can co-occur alongside substance use disorders. The most common types of co-occurring disorders include mood, anxiety, psychotic, eating, personality and behavioral disorders. Each category includes numerous types of mental disorders that can range in severity.

Mood Disorders

Mood disorders are a broad category of mental disorders that includes all types of depression and bipolar disorders. They are primarily associated with chronic feelings of sadness that last longer and are more intense than normal feelings of sadness.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety and fear are normal feelings, but prolonged feelings of anxiety that worsen over time may be indicative of an anxiety disorder. Some anxiety disorders disrupt normal life, making work and other activities difficult.

Eating Disorders

Like substance use disorders, eating disorders are misunderstood. People with eating disorders do not choose to eat unhealthy diets. They have a serious mental illness that causes them to perform harmful eating behaviors.

Behavioral Disorders

Behavioral disorders most commonly occur in children. Many healthy people exhibit behavior problems, such as inattention, defiance and hyperactivity. However, behavioral disorders are characterized by chronic behavior problems that last at least six months.

Symptoms of Co-Occurring Disorders

The physical and emotional symptoms of co-occurring disorders vary depending on your life circumstances, the type of substances you use and the type of mental illness you possess.

Social and lifestyle symptoms of co-occurring disorders include:

Employment and housing instability

Difficulty budgeting funds

Legal problems

Isolation

Prostitution or sexual deviance

Unexplained mood shifts

Aggressiveness

Hygiene and health problems

Difficulty focusing

Treatment noncompliance

Violent behavior

Suicidal ideation

The symptoms of mental health disorders are similar to the side effects of addiction. Thus, it can be difficult to determine whether a mental illness is caused by substance abuse or vice versa. Reputable addiction treatment centers screen patients for mental illnesses and develop plans for treating co-occurring disorders simultaneously.

Why Substance Use and Other Mental Disorders Co-Occur

Mental health disorders increase a person’s risk of using drugs or drinking alcohol. Substance abuse also increases the risk of developing a mental illness. However, it’s difficult to prove that one causes the onset of the other. Scientists are still studying the brain to determine how mental disorders develop, but they have several theories.

“If someone drinks or uses drugs or alcohol heavily, they’re more likely to have mood problems as a result of the substance use.”

— Mark Ilgen, Psychologist, University of Michigan

“There are likely to be direct links between substance use and the mental health problem,” Mark Ilgen, a psychologist and researcher at the University of Michigan, told DrugRehab.com. “If someone drinks or uses drugs or alcohol heavily, they’re more likely to have mood problems as a result of the substance use. In many cases, they’re more likely to cope with those problems by using other substances. So it’s a cyclical process.”

In addition to self-medication, there are several reasons people with mental illnesses are more likely to develop substance use disorders.

Risk factors for co-occurring disorders include:

Genetic predisposition

Genes may make a person more susceptible to addiction and other mental disorders.

Environmental triggers

Stress, trauma and other events can cause mental health issues that make substances of abuse more appealing.

Involvement of similar brain regions

Brain systems responsible for functions such as reward or stress may be affected by both drug use and mental illness.

Early exposure

Being exposed to alcohol or other drugs during childhood and adolescence affects the development of the brain, making a person more susceptible to addiction and other mental illnesses.

“A lot of the risk factors for drug and alcohol problems are shared with the risk factors for mental health problems,” Ilgen said. “You may have the same set of genes underlying the psychiatric and substance-related disorders. Even if one disorder isn’t directly feeding the other, you’re more likely to have both together.”

Some otherwise healthy individuals develop mental health problems after abusing alcohol or other drugs. For example, alcohol can cause major depression. Long-term meth use can cause anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations.

Drugs can also cause earlier onset of mental illness. For example, people with genetic risk factors for schizophrenia often develop symptoms of the mental illness earlier in life if they regularly smoke weed.

In some situations, abstaining from alcohol or drug use can mitigate mental health issues. However, some substances can cause long-lasting or permanent damage, and treatment is necessary to help people cope with the symptoms of mental illness.

Stigma and Other Issues Involving Co-Occurring Disorders

Stigma is the greatest barrier to helping individuals with mental illness. Many people mistakenly think that people with mental illness are dangerous or that people with substance use disorders have a moral failing. In fact, the majority of people with mental illness pose no threat to others. And regardless of moral beliefs, addiction is a disease that impairs a person’s health, social function and ability to control substance use.

In 2016 more than 200,000 people who had a substance use disorder or a severe mental illness experienced homelessness.

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

This misunderstanding causes feelings of shame and fear among people with co-occurring disorders. Many people isolate themselves to avoid embarrassment, or they deny that they need mental health treatment. Stigma in our society also prevents people in need from receiving help. Cultural rejection can prevent individuals with addiction from finding work, maintaining stable housing and providing for themselves.

The Criminal Justice System

The vast majority of inmates in the federal prison system have been convicted of drug-related offenses, and the criminal justice system in the United States is one of the biggest sources of addiction treatment referrals in the country.

According to a 2017 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a 2011–2012 national survey found that more than a third of prisoners and nearly half of jail inmates in the United States had a history of mental illness. A separate report found that 59 percent of state prisoners and 63 percent of sentenced jail inmates met the criteria for drug dependence or abuse from 2007 to 2009. Some criminal justice programs, such as drug courts, are trying to end the cycle of recidivism by providing alternatives to incarceration.

Homelessness

Homeless people often have co-occurring disorders and limited or no access to health care. They may not know that they have a mental illness, and they may have a history of legal issues that makes it impossible to hold a job.

More than 200,000 people who had a substance use disorder or a severe mental illness experienced homelessness in 2016, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Veterans

Approximately 50 percent of veterans who need mental health treatment seek it, and slightly more than half of those who do receive treatment get adequate care, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. An estimated 70 percent of homeless veterans also have a substance use disorder.

Some veterans choose not to seek treatment because they don’t want to be treated differently by peers, and many Veterans Affairs clinics have been plagued with long wait times.

Recognizing and Recovering from Co-Occurring Disorders

Since the 1980s, the medical community has recognized that co-occurring disorders require specialized treatment. Over the years, the experts in the medical community have used several different terms to describe individuals with co-occurring disorders.

The various terms use to describe someone with a co-occurring disorder, include:

Dually diagnosed patients

Mentally ill chemical abuser

Mentally ill substance abuser

Mentally ill substance using

Chemically abusing mentally ill

Substance abusing mentally ill

Dually disordered

Comorbid disorders

Individuals with co-occurring psychiatric and substance disorders

In recent years, experts have attempted to standardize the term co-occurring disorders to avoid confusion between individuals with developmental disorders and those with mental health disorders. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration generally uses the term co-occurring disorders to refer to substance use disorders and mental disorders.

Integrated Treatment

Comprehensive substance abuse treatment includes therapy for underlying causes of substance abuse. Detox alone isn’t sufficient. To recover from addiction, every aspect of mental illness must be addressed.

“We know that a tremendous amount of patients have significant trauma issues in their past, and we have to address them all at the same time,” Huckaby said. “It’s not like you can just go, ‘OK, we’re going to only treat this one.’ We know that’s not the way it works.

“If you don’t address these other issues, when they get to an area where they’re stressed, it’s going to lead them right back to the coping skill that they used for years, which was to do drugs,” Huckaby said. “So we really have to address all these issues simultaneously.”

Comprehensive, integrated treatment plans are designed to fit each individual’s specific health needs. The frequency and intensity of treatment is based on the severity of each mental health condition.

Continuing Aftercare

The most effective treatments for addiction last at least 30 days, but long-term recovery has to include aftercare. Most people in recovery from addiction attend daily or weekly support group meetings. Many people also receive outpatient counseling on a regular basis.

Recovery from mental illness is similar. Patients should continue to attend therapy for co-occurring mental disorders after they leave rehab. If doctors recommend medications, such as antidepressants or antipsychotics, patients should continue to take them for as long as their doctor advises.

Individuals with severe mental illness may require regular counseling appointments for life, but most people with co-occurring disorders are able to attain happiness and fulfillment after achieving sobriety from alcohol or other drugs.

Chris Elkins worked as a journalist for three years and was published by multiple newspapers and online publications. Since 2015, he’s written about health-related topics, interviewed addiction experts and authored stories of recovery. Chris has a master’s degree in strategic communication and a graduate certificate in health communication.